Wall Street

Just a quick shot of my latest cartoon! Wall Street - the big, bad banker is using his cronies to improve things.

Update

Hi folks!!!
My art focus is about to change. In 2012, I'm going to start a more active production method of various styles. I won't be at Red Earth 2012, but there will still be Native American themes here, but I'm now working on my other styles, cartooning, and impressionism in various formats. Hopefully, you will be able to see them in some upcoming shows. I will have some new, exciting work coming out very soon! Keep watching, I'm going to establish a professional site this year too!
Have a good one!!!

Capt. CoCo and Marshfellow

This art is probably the only holiday art I'm going to get time to post this year. I was challenged by a friend to create art for the Team Coco Holiday Campaign. I had a free day and decided to put my hand to it. It's my cartooning style in freehand pen and ink backed up by coloring in Photoshop. I didn't spend a huge amount of time on finesse so please be lenient with me. Happy Holidays!!!

Surviving Spirits

I tend to paint my feelings and words more than speak because I find it easier to get out what I'm trying to say. I picked this piece "surviving spirits" to go with the subject of my father, Dewey Landreth. Dad passed on Thanksgiving evening this year. His life had not been an easy one. He lost his father as a child in a family of ten children. He was sent to Indian boarding school to be taught how "not" to be Indian. He escaped and road a train back to his home in Ringling, OK. When World War II broke out he joined and served the Marine Corp beginning with Guadalcanal and ending with Chosin Reservoir in Korea. He wandered a bit until he meet my mother and began our family. What I loved about him the most was that he was a man of quiet grace and kindness to all he met. We never had a lot things or money but we had much love in the house.
The painting "Surviving Spirits" is devoted to theme of the unconquerable soul. The native american family is taken from a vintage photo. The tree used to shade them is located in downtown Oklahoma City. It spent many years living anonymously in a parking lot and I would drive by and notice it out of the corner of my eye. It took on a whole new meaning after a ridiculous man named Timothy McVeigh blew up the building next to it. I have watched the native american community bring itself up from a long period living on the government's welfare to thriving communities with businesses, education, healthcare and infrastructure. Just as that tree survived so to has the native american spirit, in spite of the many attempts to dissolute it. And tying into that - my father's spirit only wavered once in the fifty years I got to spend with him. That was at the passing of my mother.
I hope you enjoy this painting. If you are in tough times, too, like so many of us are, remember that you get through them easier by sharing and not by hoarding what you have. My Dad always shared.

Going Home

This painting is based from an original idea I had when I was much prettier, and I didn't make that weird noise when I get off the couch. It's loosely based on Indian belief in the afterlife. The stars in the skies represented campfires to them. And they thought when you passed you headed up to the sky to be with your ancestors around the campfires. The hawk feathers as canoes are my imagination at work. As well as the paddles stirring into the clouds like breaking water. It was very popular among my pieces at Red Earth and is now owned by a fan of my work. This is an acrylic piece. Right now, I'm working in watercolor and ink for the upcoming SEASAM show in Tishomingo.
If you are an aspiring artist and want to know about the painting I will tell you this. Thalo Blue is awesome when it comes to sky. I use to go with the obvious light blues for sky but have switch now to Thalo with Titanium White to make my day sky. And it is just a great night time color.
For the moon and it's lighting I just varied the amount of blue to white as I painted. A foam brush gave a pretty good base for this effect and then I worked it up from there. I may revisit this theme again with a much larger canvas and when I have more time. This piece was about three days work. I'm still a bit slow when I paint. Think it's the OCD I developed working as a graphic designer. And being a typical artist, there are things I would change now. The photo is not great. Sorry - my lighting techniques are kind of primitive right now.

Rising Spirits

From the "about-damn-time" category - here's a new post from me on my most recent art. This piece is entitled "Rising Spirits". It's an acrylic painting of a fancy dancer performing in a field of grass under the shadow of the eagle floating in the sky. The concept came to me as I researched native american dancers for my exhibition space at Red Earth 2011. The work completed for that show will appear here through the next few months. And I will be talking about each piece or series.

Rising Spirits is an homage to the spirit shown by the native american Fancy Dancers as they perform. If you've never been to a pow-wow you are missing a true visual experience. The energy of the dancers and the animation of their costumes is really something to see. Because this is my first native american series I spent a lot of time on research. I am 1/4 Chickasaw and proud of it. But I've never done too much painting in that theme because I knew that when I started it I would want to know what I'm talking about. I really wanted the work to be authentic to the dance performed and yet also allow my imagination to come through.

In "Rising Spirits" I spent a lot of time looking at Fancy Dancers and their costumes and the meaning of the symbols on them. The graphics and meaning of most of the symbols is very specific so I didn't want to just paint a lot of triangles and diamonds and call it good. The dancer is very close to the models I found but not exact. I change several items just to keep it original to me. The dual perspective of the painting is done to give the viewer a swirling feel to the whole piece as it shows what the dancer might see as he looks up and what the eagle sees as he looks down. The colors are bright because I just love'em strong. This piece took me a bit longer than expected because I was just wanting to be true to the detail of the Fancy Dancer's costume and it was my first time to paint one. I'll be faster from here because I've now covered that ground. 

Roses of Sharon

After about a year of sporadically working on this piece I have finally finished it!!! One of my best friends, Sharon, had asked me to create a painting for her. She wanted it to be about family. When she brought me the canvas I was somewhat intimidated. It was as big as my dining room table! I had never taken on a piece that big so the old inferiority complex kicked in! LOL - I started avoiding it a bit after getting the initial idea. But, this last month I realized I had procrastinated myself into a corner so I started a marathon painting session to finish it.
Looking back I would do a few things differently in its production. I didn't really make a preliminary sketch. I got my idea and started directly on the canvas. If I had a sketch going in with a projector to shine it onto the canvas it would have been a bit easier. I'll do this next time.
The initial idea for the piece was to have a woman representative of Sharon but not exactly like her (per Sharon's request) sitting on the grass. To represent her family I used the bluebirds. The nesting family of birds represent her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. The single bluebird in the nest represents her handicapped son who lives at a group home. The two visible bluebirds flying represent her step-son, Shannon, and her youngest son, Kevin. The last bird flying into the sunlight represents her deceased husband, Mike. The ribbons are representative of their connection even though each is doing it's own thing.
The bushes were originally going to be generic bushes. I had sketched them in but hadn't started painting on them yet when I came across the "rose of sharon" reference. So off to the web to do some research and I modified the bushes to be the Roses of Sharon.
This painting now hangs in her living room. Sharon gave me paint samples she was thinking of  for the room so I tried to incorporate them into this painting.  I finished the sides of the painting with a copper acrylic so it doesn't require a frame. I'm happy to say she loved the painting. The snapshot is close to the actual piece but my colors are a bit brighter. Sharon has been my dear friend for a long time and like my other friend Mike has been with me through a lot of crap these last few years. So I told her she's paid me back for it several times over. Hope you like it!